Calm Before Storm
by Evangel ArcAngel
Summary: My job as a Raven is to protect the world. And yet, these hands of mine have brought more wrath upon the Earth than anything else. I've got to stop what I've already accomplished: Destruction.
1. Prologue: Le Feu Dans La Nuit

I don't own AC, or any of From's characters. Some of the characters in this fic are members at the Raven Republic. No, I will not put you in.

* * *

Living a life like mine is something that not many people would like to do. I am one of the few, the Ravens. I live my life on the brink of death.

Death is not a pretty sight.

That day was the last day of my training, the day I became a Raven.

I was 20 when I first signed up to become a Muscle Tracer pilot for Mirage, the biggest power in the world besides Raven's Ark, the company that housed all Ravens.

I knew I was taking a chance, fighting Kisaragi and Crest, with the newest corporation Navis slowly behind, in a giant war between the companies.

It was always like this. Humans could never learn to live in peace. They always had to fight, never help each other.

I made my way towards the AC hangar, with my own AC sitting there, casting a menacing glow over the rest of the AC's. I was glad I had the credits to pay for my own AC instead of using the default AC that the Raven's Ark gave new pilots.

My AC made its way out of the hangar. I was on the inside of the core, piloting the fifty ton giant along the age old highway, partially damaged from a time long before we were released by the controller and I.B.I.S. was destroyed.

The Silent Line held within its bounds I.B.I.S. and a powerful nanomachine technology that gave extra powers to Ravens. After a small team of Ravens made it past the Line, a single Raven penetrated the rest of its defenses; the nanomachines helped her to kill I.B.I.S.

I'm not sure this was a good thing. She saved humanity, but in the process brought the nanomachines back.

Crest used these to conduct experiments on other Ravens. I heard that all of the ones involved died.

I stopped at several buildings, my light blue AC casting a shadow over the bright lights of the city. I was here to destroy several MTs. Once this was completed, I would finally be inducted into the Ravenfold.

A box opened up in the corner of my screen with a video playing of the Raven watching me.

"I am here to watch your progress on this mission. I will accompany you as an observer, but only in that sense. If you fail, you die. If you complete the mission, you will become a Raven," he said.

"Good Luck."


	2. Chapter 1: Note der Hölle

I made my way closer into the city, ignoring the inaccurate missles flow slowly past the metallic grim reaper I was piloting. I felt a small rifle shot make a slight rumble take place in Buko Joe's cockpit. The same MT shot another bullet towards me.

I dodged it with no difficulty. I aimed my bazooka at it and took a shot. It hit and left a large dent in the MT's left arm. I aimed again, squeezing off another round. A dead hit, right in head. It fell down and exploded. I silently smiled. Just like guarding Mirage HQ.

While with Mirage I was actually able to kill two Ravens attacking a base, in the same MT no less. After that I was promoted to master chief for Mirage before getting asked to join the Ravens. I took the offer right away. Being a Raven is everyone's dream, right?

I thought this while bringing down the last MT with a well placed shot to the core.

_CRASH!_

The windows of a building next to me exploded. I looked around but didn't see anything on visual. I looked at my radar and saw nearly a dozen targets quickly heading right for my AC. I checked my visual again. I noticed several little orange dots heading towards me at a speed I thought was impossible.

I flipped the switch for OB and rushed out of there as fast as I could. All the while there were more of these metallic monstrosities rushing past me. One of them exploded at my AC's feet and knocked it off balance. I righted it and continued to run off.

I met up with my observer. He said his name was Jack-0 and was going to come with me.

"This wasn't part of the test," he said coldly. That man gives me the shivers.

We headed out of there with hundreds more of those 'Kamikaze MTs', were on our heels as Jack-0 had named them. My AC was faster than Jack's and didn't get hit as much, but I believe he made it out with no apparent injuries.

Why does my life always turn upside down at the wrong times?

It was never really a question I thought of until now. My life was always one that was one that wasn't set on any track; it instead stumbled around in a drunken stupor.

We soon recovered ourselves at the edge of the city. We picked off the rest of the MTs heading towards us and boosted off; hoping to outrun any more that came near us.

Once out of most of the harm, Jack congratulated me. I asked him why.

"You're a Raven now"

I maintained a weak smile as we continued to the next town. We looked around, seeing nothing but burning wreckage caused by the Kamikaze MTs.

My smile disappeared.

It was horrible, body parts and blood everywhere, with scattered pieces of what I guessed used to be MTs.

I received a transmission. It told all Ravens to run and hide from the MTs that were destroying everything across the globe. The transmission had several attachments with it. I guessed these were pictures, clicking on the attachments.

The pictures brought tears to my eyes as I saw what had become of the planet. It was no longer the beautiful green it used to be. All I saw was red burning flames that charred everything around it.

I brought one last picture up. It was of the Raven's Ark. There were burning corpses, charred metal, and defeated AC's strewn around in the debris of the building itself. Or rather, what was left of the building.

The first floor was still there, though any other floor of the building was on the ground. The Ravens were dead, gone, just like the MTs. I couldn't stand to look at the pictures anymore. It gave me too much grief.

We continued around the continent for several more days. Jack decided it would be best for us to split up. I can't say I didn't agree with him. We could search for more survivors that way. He never was the best of company either.

I traveled a little farther one day, when I saw a piece of paper floating in the air. I jumped out of my AC and grabbed the paper, looking for any form of writing.

Blank.

I was hoping for some sign of life. It seemed Jack and me were the only ones left.

If my family was still alive, I wanted them to know I was still alive with them. I went inside my AC and found a pen I had stuck in a corner in case I needed it. I wrote a small letter on the paper.

_To all my family and friends, and all the people I have ever known: I'm sorry if I ever angered you and I'm sorry if I ever caused you harm. I realize that many of you out there may be dead, but to those that are alive, please accept my apology. I realize that once you look death in the face, you look different at life itself - Grimlok._

I let the piece of paper go, hoping for it to fly away to someone still out there. I didn't think they would, but I always hoped.


	3. Chapter 2: Finding Heaven

I was boosting to the next town to see if there were people there. I got out of my AC and walked around.

There wasn't, but all the buildings there were in perfect shape, as if all of the people in the town just disappeared. I once looked inside a house. There was a cup of coffee still sitting there, half full. I looked at another. Someone had left out a load of clothes to dry.

"Speaking of clothes…" I said as I looked down at myself. I realized that I had not changed clothes in a week. I looked around the small town for a clothing store.

After walking for another thirty minutes, I found one. It was a shady looking building, but at least it had some clothes in it.

I walked inside and grabbed a few pairs of jeans, some shirts, and two jackets for good measure. I walked out as if I didn't have a care in the world. I stopped as I noticed little dots moving on the horizon.

More of the MTs were coming.

I ran as quickly as I could to my AC and jumped into the cockpit

I hit the OverBoost button and shot off, leaving nothing but dust to collect behind me. Sadly, the MTs were still gaining. I activated my boosters and watched my speedometer go up higher.

I let out a sigh of relief as I flew farther away from the MTs. I then started to get dizzy. I remembered the AC pilots working with me on a mission with Mirage saying something about going so fast that you would get something they called "OB lag." I decided to cut off my OB and drop down to my regular boosters.

By now the MTs had destroyed the town. I was glad I had left in time.

I traveled around the continent for a few more days. I happened upon a military camp though there was no one there. There was a fire still lit.

It gave me strength, if not hope.

I settled down in that camp for a day. It would be nice to have some place to sleep besides the AC and the ground. I settled into one of the sleeping bags and fell into a dreamless deep sleep.

I slept the whole night and nearly the whole day. When I woke up, I was starving. I hadn't eaten since I ran out of food three days ago.

Death isn't looking as bad as it did before.

I jumped in my AC and look to the skies, looking for any other form of civilization besides the smoldering wreckage of the town behind me.

I found a small city some 50 miles away. I knew it must have food in it. I wondered if it even had people there. Maybe I was asking too much.

_Unknown AC detected._

Maybe I wasn't asking enough. I neared the AC. It was a deep green and gray, shining in the heat of the sun.

I saw a pilot down at the foot of the AC, reading a copy of _City of Cried Rivers_.

Quite a rare find in these days.

I jumped down from my AC and walked toward him. He looked middle-aged. About 31 was my guess.

"Hi"

He looked up at me. "Hi there. My name's Nix, and the AC you see behind me is Doc Holliday. What's yours?"

"Its Grimlok…" I said. I wanted to fall on my knees and cry. I thought I was one of the two people left on the Earth right now, and yet this person acted like it was an everyday event to meet someone else at a time like this.

"I see you're an AC pilot. One of the few left it seems," he said with certainty. "You mean there are more people besides us?" I asked.

A small whining noise reached my ears. I looked up, finding a blue and white AC approaching fast.

It seemed my question was answered.

A pilot jumped out.

He, unlike Nix, had a small look of surprise on his face for seeing me. "Who's the new guy?" he asked Nix.

"Grimlok"

"Did you know a Raven by the name of Kaze?" he asked me. I thought about it for a second. I did know a Raven named Kaze.

I was the one that killed him.

I decided I might as well tell the truth. If I'm going to die, it's not going to be by the Kamikaze MTs. "Yeah, I knew him. Even fought alongside him once."

He frowned. "You were the one that killed him too, weren't you?" he asked. I bit my lip.

"Yes"

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I would have last week, but there aren't many people left. I can't let everyone around me die can I?"

He said his name was Wanzer. We sat talking for a little while before I noticed that I was quite hungry. I had forgotten all about eating after seeing them.

The two seemed to notice this. Wanzer found a bag of chips in his cockpit and gave them to me. He said he and Nix would always raid supermarkets that weren't demolished yet.

They asked me if I wanted to meet the rest of their crew.

"Sure, I want to meet all the people I can. At least I know I'm not alone anymore," I said as we neared a small Raven bunker.

He swiped in a small RAVENID card in its slot and the door slid open.

I thought there was going to be more than 50 people around. There wasn't even ten. It angered me, but I still had hope there were other people left out there.

As I rounded a corner, I bumped into a girl of about 22. The result: everything she was carrying fell to the ground.

I helped her pick everything up. When I finally looked up and saw her, I realized how beautiful she was. I almost had to wipe the drool off of my face.

"What are you staring at?" she asked. "Make sure you don't bump into me again," she said, walking off.

I dismissed it as anger when she walked off, but I did spy a hint of red to her cheeks.


	4. Chapter 3:Another To The Chopping Block

There were eight people at the bunker, including me. Nix and Wanzer I had already had met, I found out later that the girl I had bumped into was named Lunar. There was also Leperman, Fox, Goatling, Crimson (Lunar's brother, which I learned in an…embarrassing encounter with him), and I of course.

We had nothing to do but search for more survivors, and even that was dangerous because of the MTs.

One day I was fixing my AC when I received an email. The sender: Jack-0. I was surprised. I had not seen him for several months while staying at the bunker. I thought he was dead. I had almost forgotten about him.

He was asking me for help. This surprised me even more. An accomplished Raven, asking me, a mere novice at the practice, for help? It didn't make much sense to me.

He wanted help infiltrating the place where the kamikaze MTs were coming from. I gave him a quick email saying I would do it.

You can't live in fear, so why be bothered by it?

I brought Buko Joe out of the small hangar and set off to the spot where Jack told me to go. It was in the ruins of Circ City.

We cruised though the city for a long time before he stopped. He brought me to a door that looked like an elevator to a huge building. We went into it, but it didn't go up, that was for sure. I could feel it going faster and faster, until Buko Joe's feet actually left the floor.

I was well above the floor when the elevator finally stopped. I flicked my boosters on to prevent myself from hard landing, and met up with Jack, already down on the ground.

We boosted down a long tunnel until Jack stopped me. I could hear a slight buzzing sound.

The sound was coming from a large amount of kamikaze MTs. Jack and I dodged them as good as we could, but the short space left much to be desired. We continued dodging them for several minutes, making our way out of the tunnel when we came to a huge drop.

"I guess you would want to go first?" I asked him. He said nothing, but his AC fell to the dark chasm. I said a light prayer and plunged down into the darkness too.

After a fall that continued for ages, we fell into a large, circular room with six pillars of light in the center. "Come on, we have to destroy the six generators on the wall over there," Jack said.

_BZZT!_

A pink colored laser came from the pillar and struck Buko Joe's right arm. Luckily it didn't break it off or do too much damage. Two more lasers came down, one hitting the floor, the other hitting Foxeye.

Foxeye wasn't damaged much, so we continued on, firing at the generators on the surrounding walls. Soon, all six were damaged what seemed beyond repair.

We stopped to rest, as our AC's were covered in scorch marks and rips. "What the fuck is that?" Jack-0 said. I looked at my radar and saw an object approaching.

From the ceiling, no less.

An orange and blue colored machine landed squarely in the middle of the floor. "Watch it! That's a Pulverizer!" Jack-0 yelled. "A what?" I asked.

I really need to pay attention to more serious matters on hand during times of danger.

It rushed across the room, slashing my AC three times, and nearly destroying Buko Joe's right arm. The bazooka couldn't fire anymore, so I dropped it and retreated to get a better view of this "pulverizer"

It had glowing blades protruding from its arms. They must be stronger than the Moonlight. I already lost an arm, and I didn't want to lose another, but the pulverizer was so fast, there was almost no way I could dodge it.

The pulverizer kneeled on the ground. "Stay back!" Jack yelled. Long-range bursts of energy found their targets, breaking off the right arm, and blowing off a chunk of the head. "Idiot!" Jack-0 screamed. Not a very friendly man, is he?

The pulverizer stood up and put its blades in an "X" position. Luckily, I was smart enough to move before a gigantic ball of blue energy rushed towards me.

Five seconds later, it was on me again, trying to blade me several more times. And people said I got all the fun in high school.

I brought Buko Joe's blade out and slashed at the pulverizer. Unsurprisingly, it didn't do much damage, but I nearly leaped in joy. At least I had hit it.

And Jack just sat there on his ass and did nothing. I was gonna kill him once I got finished with the pulverizer.

Then, it did a weird thing. It went towards me, slashing at me once more, before disappearing through one of the air ducts at the top of the room.

"You did good against the pulverizer. But you do know too much. I've come too far to let a lone Raven use this technology itself," Jack said.

His tone was more icy than usual.


	5. Chapter 4: Die FuchsAnrufe Zum Mond

"Why Jack, why do you want to kill me?" I asked him. "Because I can't let you interfere. The ARK wouldn't let me carry out what I wanted to do, so now I'm going to do it on my own." 

"How?" I asked.

"With the Pulverizers and the Kamikaze MTs of course. If I destroyed their central controlling supercomputer, I could control them. I knew I couldn't do it alone. So I got one of the last Ravens to help me," Jack said. I wasn't sure if he was a genius, or insane.

Probably both.

And all I had left was a blade. This was not looking good. But hey, I scared off a pulverizer; I can kill Jack-0, even if he is an accomplished Raven with a lot more experience on the battlefield.

Right?

"No more playing around," He said, sending a barrage of missles my way. He then followed this up with a laser blast from his KRSW laser rifle.

The second blast found the remains of Buko Joe's head. How can I say it? There weren't any remains left after it hit.

This was it. I didn't even really have an AC left. I released a few missles at him. They struck several parts of his AC.

Apparently, he isn't the pilot he makes himself out to be. I shot a few more HP bullets at him before it ran out of bullets.

I pulled out another handgun, the 69H, and started shooting at him. Unfortunately, his AC had so much armor, the bullets barely dented the metal.

I released more bombs at him while he was boosting towards me, and he ran into every one of them. If the situation were never this serious, I would have fallen back laughing my ass off.

A KRSW blast interrupted my thoughts. I looked at a damage assessment.

Apparently the explosion had blown off the remains of my right arm. But hey, I wasn't using, so why do I need the extra weight?

I shot a few more bombs at him, though much to my dismay, none of them hit. I locked on with my missles and shot several more, this time with extension missles. The resounding explosion was music to my ears.

When the smoke cleared, I saw nothing. A fluke, surely, because as soon as my brain registered that nothing was there, I saw a small electrical spark in the corner of my eye.

If Buko Joe moved any slower, Foxeye's grenades and KRSW blasts would have hit me from a range of only 150 meters. I guess that's why I like Lightweight AC's so much.

Another shot screamed past the cockpit, mixing with the sound of my OverBoost engaging. I shot across the room, leaving nothing but a blur across the battlefield. More bombs scattered across the length of the floor too. It was almost like a giant white line.

The 69H stopped firing. I tossed the piece of shit, and resumed with what little ammo I had left.3 more sets of bombs, and 2 more volleys of missles.

Time to get creative.

I shot another set of bombs at him. 2 left. Right before they hit him, I sent one more volley of missles at him.

The missles met the bombs in midair, detonating with an explosion that filled the air, so loud I couldn't hear anything but my beating heart.

I took a good look at Foxeye. My bombs seemed to have done a lot of damage, thanks to the missles.

It's left arm was in pieces, and half of the head was gone. I took up dodging once again.

Surely he must have ran out of KRSW shots by now?

Then, the missles struck me out of midair, and I fell to the floor. Foxeye walked over to me, the KRSW pointed right at the weak cockpit. There was one weakness that made me hate lightweights.

"You're the first Raven to make me this mad. You're the first Raven to almost fail my plans. You're the first Raven to get this far into battle with me. And Raven's die with honor right?"

"Goodbye"


End file.
